Sunday, 30 March 2014

Former Dynasty star Kate O'Mara has died at a Sussex nursing home at the age of 74 after a short illness. O'Mara was best known for playing Alexis Colby's scheming sister Cassandra
"Caress" Morrell in the soap in the mid-80s, but also had a recurring role in Doctor Who as renegade Time Lord The Rani, as well as starring in Howards' Way and Triangle.

Her agent Phil Belfield said: "She was extraordinary, she had so much energy and vitality with a love for theatre and acting. A shining star has gone out and Kate will be dearly missed by all who knew and have worked with her."

Doctor Who actor Colin Baker tweeted: "Oh my goodness. Kate O'Mara is no
longer with us. Sad sad news. A delightful, committed and talented lady
and actress. We are the poorer".

Throughout the 1970s she starred in a number of television series including The Return of the Saint, and The Brothers. During the 1990s she also had a
recurring role in the ITV prison drama Bad Girls and also had a role in Jennifer Saunders 90s comedy series
Absolutely Fabulous, where she played Jackie, the sister of Patsy,
played by Joanna Lumley.

Kate O'Mara is fondly remembered for her role as The Rani in Doctor Who during the 1980s. She first appeared as The Rani in the 1985 story The Mark Of The Rani alongside Colin Baker as the Doctor and Anthony Ainsley as the Master. Kate returned to the role in 1987s Time And The Rani, this time with Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. Last year, which was Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, she said she would like to
reprise the role,

''I'd love to come back as The Rani another time
around.

She had been married and divorced three times -once to fellow Doctor
Who actor Jeremy Young - and she was a strong advocate of animal welfare
issues. During her acting career she also wrote two autobiographies; Vamp Until Ready and Game Plan: A Woman's Survival Kit.

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Mary Tamm is still fondly remembered for portraying the first incarnation of Romanadvoratrelundar or Romana for short, in Doctor Who back in 1978/79 during The Keys To Time serial; alongside then Doctor Tom Baker.

Mary Tamm was married to Marcus Ringrose from 1978 until her death in 2012 from cancer. Sadly, a few hours after giving an eulogy at her funeral, Marcus died. They left behind their daughter Lauren and grandson Max.

Her autobiography, First Generation, was published in September 2009 by Fantom Films. Prior to her death, Mary had been working on volume two of her autobiography titled Second Generation, which will be on sale in April 2014, and can be pre-ordered 28th March 2014 from Amazon.

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Doctor Who fans are excited about the opening of a 'TARDIS' Police Box in Boscombe in Dorset. It is expected to be the only operating Police Box outside of London since they were decommissioned back in the 1960s.

The idea is for a more visible Police presence to tackle crime. However, a fan has suggested that the 'celebrity status' of the 'TARDIS' will outweigh that service.

Doctor Who Online editor Sebastian Brook, who used to live in
Bournemouth, said it was "the visual image of the police box that
connected several generations" of fans. He said the news site had received many emails from "excited" people
keen to visit the police box in the Bournemouth suburb, and so it had
"been following the progress quite closely"

The box for the precinct on Christchurch Road has been funded by donations from local companies. Dorset Police said the 1920s-design steel box would act as "a
highly-visible policing footprint", but was also designed to be a
tourist attraction. The steel framework will be sprayed and installed in Boscombe by the end of Spring

Police boxes were first used in the USA, with the first UK box being opened in Glasgow in 1891.

By 1953 there were 685 police boxes on the streets of London. Police
boxes were phased out, but a new police box was installed by the
Metropolitan Police outside Earls Court Tube station in 1996.

Leading the field with (at the time of writing) 9795 supporters is this great set from GlenBricker.
It's 6000 ahead of it's nearest competition and just 205 votes away
from the 10,000 support threshold before LEGO will review the
suggestion, and possibly turn it into an actual design.

The finished set would come with 5 Minifigures, K-9, and 3 Brick Built
Daleks for characters, along with the TARDIS and a TARDIS Console.

Doctor wise you can pick from Tom Baker, Christopher Eccleston, David
Tennant, Matt Smith or Peter Capaldi. Assistants include Rose Tyler,
Captain Jack Harkness, Doctor Donna Noble, Amy Pond, River Song and
Clara Oswald. There's also a Cyberman and Weeping Angel minifigure in
the collection.

Each Doctor and Companion minifigure would come with an item, including
the Fourth Doctor's Jelly Babies, the Eleventh Doctor's Fez and Clara's
'Leaf'.

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Sci-Fi Collector are delighted to announce that Tom Baker
will be at their Strand store in London, on March 20th from 10am for a belated 80th
Birthday
signing session. Sci-Fi Collector have some wonderful new covers
and prints
to commemorate the Curator and some of his other classic episodes as
well.

Sunday, 9 March 2014

It has been rumoured for months now,
that the Master is set to return in Series 34 (8) of Doctor Who, when
the show airs in the autumn. Back in January, it was strongly rumoured that Charles Dance could be taking on the mantel of Master from the fabulous John Simm. This may now not be the ase.

Below is how Umbridge1986on Deviant Art visualised Charles Dance as the Master

Speaking at the Newcastle Film And Comic Con, Sylvester McCoy, the
Seventh Doctor, was asked who his favourite Doctor Who villain was. Sylvester revealed his favourite Doctor Who villain was the Master. He then went on to say that the Master would be back this year, but not played by John Simm. McCoy didn't reveal the actors name but said he knew who had been cast and that he'll be very scary.

Former Eastenders actor Steve John Shepherd (Michael Moon) may already have been cast as the Doctor's arch-nemesis and fellow Time Lord – the Master.

Looking nothing like his fastidiously dapper and clean shaven
Walford wideboy character Michael Moon, whom he portrayed between 2010 and 2013, Steve has grown a beard that’s a dead ringer, none too dissimilar for the type sported
by Roger Delgrado and Anthony AInsley, who both played the Master in the 70s
and 80s.

Also, the snap appears to show the actor standing by a craggy
seaside outcrop that suspiciously resembles the windswept South Wales
coastline – also, its upload date of January 19 is around the same time
the new series of Who would have been filming in Merthry Mawr, just a
short Tardis ride from both Porthcawl and Ogmore-by-Sea.

It’s a
coincidence which seems to add credence to the ongoing internet rumours
that Shepherd is a shoo-in for the coveted role, whispers which were
inadvertently started by Shepherd himself late last year when he
appeared on ITV’s Daybreak programme to reveal he was about to start
work on a big project in the New Year but “couldn’t go into the
details.”

We shall have to await news from the Doctor Who camp whether this speculation is correct. In the meantime; below, a fan's tribute to Steve John Shepherd as the Master.

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine celebrates 50 years of
the Doctor’s deadliest enemies – the Daleks! The mag comes complete with
a FREE, giant double-sided poster, and is choc-full of Dalek-related
content.
Inside the issue, you’ll find…

We Are the Daleks – An in-depth feature looks at why the Daleks remain Doctor Who‘s Number One monsters after 50 years.

1960s Dalek voice artist DAVID GRAHAM comes face to face with his modern equivalent NICHOLAS BRIGGS!

Discover surprising facts and see rare images from the first ever Dalek story in The Fact of Fiction.

Anatomy of a Dalek – find out what lurks within the metal casing!

Doctor Who‘s showrunner STEVEN MOFFAT reveals the secrets of being a successful writer in Production Notes.

The Blood of Azrael – the second part of a new comic strip adventure for the Doctor and Clara.

Model-maker extraordinaire MIKE TUCKER and members of the Model Unit talk exclusively to DWM about their work on Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and more.

The Time Team travels back to ancient Rome to witness The Fires of Pompeii.

For those of you out there who have doubts about the new Doctor Peter Capaldi, perhaps this will warm you to him and maybe melt your hear a little too.

While filming the next series of Doctor Who, Peter took
the time to reassure a little autistic child who was dressed as a Dalek, that it
would be okay for him to be the Doctor now.

The clip, posted by a fan to YouTube, was soon turned into a series
of GIFS; leading to the aunt of the concerned young girl to post this
explanation on her Tumblr page:

Hiya, the little girl in the dalek outfit is my niece, she’s autistic and
was finding it difficult coming to terms with the regeneration as Matts
doctor is her imaginary friend, she was worried PCap wouldn’t want to
play with her. We are very ecstatic that he took time to reassure her.
He’s brilliant!

Upon discovering just how far this adorable, touching video had
spread, the girl’s mother then posted this entry on her own blog, taking
the time to thank the kind-hearted cast and crew of the show for
reassuring a little girl that her imaginary friend still wants to play
with her:

Next thing a man walks over to us and says
to Roxann hello what’s your name, she didn’t answer so I did he then
asked how old she was and she whispered 5. He said well im the director
and would you like to come with me. We followed him and he called Peter
over. Peter and Jenna where lovely and so understanding.

Even though
Roxann wouldn’t look at them or talk…which is due to her autism. She
took everything in that was being said to her by peter. We spent about
10mins with them and I can not express how over joyed and thankful I am
to the crew for making both my daughters dreams come true.